FAQs

If you have a question that you don't see listed here, visit our contact page
for more ways to reach us.

Does your son have an addiction or an addiction-in-the-making?

One of the questions parents most often ask is “does my son have an addiction?” The reality is that it doesn’t matter if your son has a full-blown addiction or an addiction-in-the-making. If they have an addiction-in-the-making and it is not addressed and treated, it will become a full-blown addiction over time. Also, a person with an addiction-in-the-making is still participating in dangerous activities that can have life-altering consequences. Whatever the stage of a person’s addiction, the important thing is to give that person what they need in order to make a change and turn things around. If you think that a person has an addiction-in-the-making, to help them you must give them the same support that someone who has been a serious addict for years would require.

Addiction is not a disease that you can test for or monitor, as you would be able to do for something like diabetes. The two most important criteria that define addiction are; they have experienced a loss of control over their behavior and, they continue to repeat the same behaviors despite experiencing negative consequences. The most important thing for any person in such a crisis is that they break the cycle of abuse and receive the help they need to stay sober and address their issues.

How does Capstone deal with sexuality?

Sex is one of a human being’s primary needs and our culture has sexualized everything from toothpaste to butter. The result has be a very distorted and harmful view of sexuality by most young people so here is how Capstone sees it.

In different groups and 1-on-1 sessions where the topic of healthy sexuality comes up, one of the ideas we talk about is how to see the “woman”. We discuss the two ways to perceive the opposite sex. The healthy way, and the moral way, is to see her through the lens of her relational potential. We use the metaphor or the Intimacy Pie in relationships to break this down. One way a young man looks at “women” is through their potential in deep relationship or friendship. He would consider her potential in several aspects, like pieces of the Intimacy Pie; core expression, affection, conflict resolution, spiritual connection, compatibility, shared interests, etc., and if ever married, sex. All of which are healthy and God-blessed.

The second way to see or to define the “woman” is to take the sex piece of the Intimacy Pie out and look only through it. His question about women is all about her potential to please him sexually. This is the way boys are raised via the cultural experience in America. We try to teach our guys that this leads to failed relationship and a distorted view of self. As the man sees the woman, so he sees himself.

How does Capstone help clients with their education?

Capstone has a full time Education Coordinator, who serves as a liaison between the clients who are still in secondary school and their school guidance counselor, or facilitates online courses so clients don’t get any further behind in school. Schoolwork is maintained to preserve academic status during treatment. Special tutoring may be utilized to enhance academic performance. For many of our clients, there is a strong correlation between drug abuse and academic struggles. Many have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. These diagnoses say nothing about a kid’s intelligence or their ability to succeed. It says more about the failure of mainstream education in tapping into the giftedness of all students.

At Capstone, we believe that all kids are smart and talented. However, some kids haven’t figured out how to get their intelligence onto paper and others haven’t discovered their talent areas. Our Education Coordinator evaluates the clients and designs a plan to help the clients to keep up academically. Recommendations are made to parents and clients on the steps to take to continue the learning process and improve academic performance.

How does Capstone treat trauma and unresolved hurt?

Trauma is one of the most misunderstood and mistreated topics in therapy. Trauma has a broad definition. Peter Levine defines trauma as an experience that has two basic components; helplessness / immobility and terror / fear — and that causes you to freeze after it occurs. This “freeze” refers to the emotional freeze of the person suffering the trauma. The emotional response to a traumatic experience is too much for the body to process, and, as a result, the body stores it as a trauma. The person’s emotion after a trauma is stuck in the state of fear, shame, hurt, or all three.

There are two types of traumatic experiences. The first, called a Big-T Trauma, is a big, singular event in your life that freezes an emotional response. A Big-T Trauma could be an instance of sexual abuse, or witnessing a death or other catastrophic event. The other type of trauma, called Little-t Trauma, takes the form of a series of traumatic events, possibly over a long period of time. A person who suffered from bullying may be experiencing Little-t Trauma. Suffering either type of trauma changes the way in which the sufferer views the world. This is because of the unprocessed fear, shame and hurt that stays with them. Regardless of the manner in which the trauma was experienced, the therapeutic objective is to uncover the origin of the trauma and healthily process it.

The Core Model integrates the therapy approaches designed to work through the right hemisphere of the brain to work on the damage from trauma, loss, and/or abandonment. The research on trauma clearly shows the current shift in successful trauma treatment from a cognitive approach to an affect-based approach. In other words, left-brained intellectual therapy does not access the right-brain emotional areas where the trauma damage occurred; therefore it is not very productive to say the least.

During groups, Trauma Weeks, and 1-on-1 sessions, clients who are dealing with trauma experience this specialized level of therapy which includes EMDR.

How does Capstone utilize the 12-Steps?

Once developed, addiction is an irreversible condition of the brain and is considered a disease by the counseling field. When a person has an addiction-in-the-making, his brain has already developed a compulsivity, and therefore demands the same level of treatment as the person with a full-blown addiction. An individual who has neither can start his use of the chemical or process activity and then stop basically at any given point. But the person with an addiction cannot stop once he starts. Having an addiction has nothing to do with character, spirituality, intelligence, love of family, or self-discipline. And it is progressive to the point of death if not interrupted, thus the concept of disease. The person with an addiction has lost the ability to control his use and continues to use in spite of the negative consequences he is experiencing.

There is a genetic component that affects the development of an addiction at two levels. First, the tolerance pace of the individual which refers to how fast he needs to increase his intake of a substance or graphicness of porn in order to get the same mood change or feeling as he previously did with a lesser amount. Second, as this tolerance pace is continuing its course; there is no way to determine at what point addiction will develop. It seems that a faster tolerance pace often correlates with an addiction developing sooner and a slower tolerance pace correlates with a later development. But when will an addiction kick in with any given individual? There’s just no way to predict it, so there is an aspect of its timing that is genetic. One person abuses drugs for months before addiction kicks in and another person takes years of use. Just like our skin responds differently to the sun’s rays where some people burn faster than others, the concept of genetic predisposition is accurate as far as the development of an addiction. Anybody can develop an addiction and genetic factors, along with several environmental factors, contribute to the speed at which it can happen. The most important thing to remember is that no matter when it is developed, once you’ve got an addiction, you’ve got it for life. The goal then becomes recovery; learning how to live a life that is drug/alcohol free, healthy, balanced, and fruitful.

The client with an addiction must learn to manage it in a way that he can live a successful life just like a person with a chronic disease can. Most Capstone clients have already developed an addiction. Clients, who don’t have an addiction, have an addiction-in-the-making, or a compulsivity. They are usually the younger ones and unless a decisive change in life-direction occurs, they soon will. 12-Step Fellowships, including resources like Celebrate Recovery are vital, especially in the first two to five years of recovery. As a Christ-centered program, Capstone uses the AA 12-Steps and Big Book from a Christian perspective. The 12-Steps, both during Capstone and after graduation, are crucial components in successful recovery. The 12-Steps are basically a Biblical way of looking at yourself in the mirror, seeing what needs to be different, and then working on those changes with the support of a group of people who are in the same process. The foundation of Capstone’s Core Model of therapy is, “The truth will set you free” which is also a foundational component in the 12-Steps. It’s like having a support group of mirrors that reflect the truth about each other. Building relationships is the most powerful way to heal and build a healthy brain and fill the void that addiction does in a destructive way. These relationships also provide the “As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another” Proverbs 27:17. These two Biblical principles are vital to learning how to live well with an addiction.

The biggest obstacle for a Capstone client to overcome, once the facts are established, is admitting that he has an addiction. The second biggest obstacle is to learn to live his life in acceptance of that knowledge. In the same way that a person with diabetes wakes up every morning to live his life with full knowledge that he has diabetes, the person with an addiction must also live within the framework of his condition. Because of having diabetes, decisions about activities, nutrition, blood sugar checks, and insulin shots must be made based on the acceptance of the fact of the disease. Because of having an addiction, choices about activities, relationships, environments, triggers, emotions, relapse prevention and Spiritual connection must be made based on the acceptance of the fact of addiction. Denial is the situation when an individual cannot see that he has this condition and cannot live life today as a “normal” person, meaning a person without the disease. Refusal to accept the disease in either case ends in catastrophe. One of the strongest reasons to be involved in a healthy 12-Step group after treatment is the consistent reminder that the addiction does exist and that life’s decisions must be made in a way that keeps the addicted person from overload situations that would lead to relapse.

One of the biggest challenges in understanding addiction is the negative perception about being a person who has something that makes them “not normal”. It’s especially a big challenge to accept this about your son. Having an irreversible brain condition, a disease, or a situation that will dictate limits in behavior is difficult to accept in any situation. The cold hard facts of this are when it’s true, it’s true. Not accepting it and coming to terms with it will make the losses more severe. Each must give up the idea that they should be “normal”; it robs them of the chance to live an extraordinary life, in recovery!

In writing about Celebrate Recovery, Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of the Saddleback Church, shares some thoughts that are helpful in understanding the needs for this type of aftercare. Warren says, “You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression that ‘time heals all wounds.’ Unfortunately, it isn't not true. As a pastor I frequently talk with people who are still carrying hurts from 30 or 40 years ago. The truth is – time often makes things worse. Wounds that are left untended fester and spread infection throughout your entire body. Time only extends the pain if the problem isn’t dealt with."

What we need is a biblical and balanced program to help people overcome their hurts, habits and hang-ups. Celebrate Recovery is that program. Based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory, our recovery program is unique, and more effective in helping people change than anything else I’ve seen or heard of. Over the years I’ve witnessed how the Holy Spirit has used this program to transform literally thousands of lives at Saddleback Church and help people grow toward full Christ-like maturity.”

Warren goes on to say that his own personal study of recovery in the scriptures showed him that the principles of recovery and their logical order were given by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount in the beatitudes.

As a part of our Aftercare Program, Capstone encourages graduates to participate in Celebrate Recovery or another 12-Step Fellowship. While at Capstone, clients experience and begin to work the Steps, read from the AA Big Book, and participate in 12-Step groups that are client led.

It is also important to know that the Twelve Steps are not the Twelve Concepts. They are not the Twelve Ideas or the Twelve Truths. They are twelve steps to take, twelve disciplines to practice, twelve activities to do. The focus is on action, not on ideas. You do the steps! If you merely believe the ideas that are found in the Twelve Steps, you cannot expect the desired results.

There is nothing magical about the Twelve Steps. They do not lead to a quick transformation. The Twelve Steps are not even a cure for addiction–or for anything else. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous makes a modest claim for the Twelve Steps: “We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.” The Steps are tools for maintaining a healthy spiritual condition. Collectively they represent a path–a style of life–that can make it possible for us to receive from God the healing, the wisdom, and the grace we seek.

How does Exercise Therapy benefit the brain?

It is a fact that young men who get physically stronger and in shape have more confidence and self-discipline. This would be reason enough to have vigorous exercise as a part of a treatment program. However, the problems go much deeper than confidence and self-discipline, thus the demand for solutions to go much deeper.

Chemical and process addiction behaviors create good feelings in the brain that resonate throughout the body. When a person realizes that they have an addiction, or one in the making, and tries to stop, displacing those good feelings in a healthy way is paramount in recovery. Aerobic exercise for 30-60 minutes will cause neurotransmitters to be released in the brain that cause good feelings. These benefits are helpful in gaining traction in recovery, but are also a part of a healthy, balanced, and fruitful life. The feeling of strength, ability, good internal feelings by the release of endorphins and enkephalins in the brain, and confidence from looking healthy and fit are paramount in recovery.

However, the primary therapeutic benefit of our Exercise Therapy is the healing and health of the brain, which is the organ we treat as counselors. One of the most impactful ways to heal the brain from addiction and trauma damage is through aerobic exercise. Dan Siegel, in his book Mindsight, says that 45 minutes of cardio exercise 5 times per week is needed for a healthy brain. Our workout regimen is 5 days per week for 60 minutes of aerobic exercise; 30 on a cardio machine and 30 in a fast-pace weight lifting circuit, which is also aerobic.

It is fun to watch the clients who start to see the muscles grow on their bodies looking in the mirrors and flexing. This is why we have wall-to-wall mirrors in the weight room. While the clients may see their physiques as the primary benefit to the workout, our primary goal is the health of their brains.

Continuing their exercise regimen after graduation is one of the top correlates with successful recovery. Most of our graduates who continue to workout are doing well and most of those who are not doing well, have long ago discontinued their workouts.

What Family Programming does Capstone offer?

Families admitting their sons to treatment at Capstone often have strong feelings of guilt for “sending their son away". They question the decisions they made in their lives and in raising their son, and wonder what they did to cause their son’s behavior. When a son is in crisis, the family is in crisis; when a son is suffering, the whole family is suffering and needs to be healed.

Our team members are experts at joining with families. Our counselors know what it’s like to be in crisis situations, and because many are parents, they are able to understand the fear and pain that comes from having a child in crisis. One of our first goals is to join with parents and help them understand that Capstone, parents, and sons will work together as a team. We’re here to help the entire family to understand the nature and causes of the problem and the solutions to it, and then to send the family home with all the tools for success in place. This is crucial, because when the boys leave us they go back to their families, and if the changes to be made are not fully understood and embraced by the entire family unit, the son runs a greater risk of falling back into old habits.

Once a month we have family week at Capstone. The primary function of Family Week is for the parents and sons to participate in an intense week of family therapy. Another benefit of Family Week is that parents get to connect with other parents who are going through the same situation that they are. It begins with Big Monday, a long day of education. When Family Week arrives, the sons have been working and learning about why they are in treatment for some time, and parents need to learn the language that is being use at Capstone. Parents are taught about the Capstone model, different kinds of addiction, and essentials of recovery. We want parents to understand that this is a comprehensive issue. It’s about more than stopping using drugs; it’s also about exposing the core issues underneath that have made their son vulnerable.

Tuesday through Friday is intense Family Therapy. Every member of the family gets individual therapy; married parents often receive some basic marital therapy and if needed, a plan for follow-up marital therapy, usually back home; and the family as a whole receives a great deal of family therapy. This intense family therapy is designed to help families understand the nature of the problem and what they need to do as a family system to help their son get out of the drug culture, stop his negative behaviors, and change his life.

A 3-day Sibling Intensive is offered to clients’ families after Family Week at an extra cost. This part of our family programming is new and has been very helpful to several families. Parents will hear about this opportunity during Family Week.

Family Retreat is a 2-day period ending with graduation. Parents do a lot of therapy work to make final preparations to transition into the Finishing Phase. Graduation is held at the end of the retreat where the client and family are honored for their work. After graduation the family drives away from the Capstone facility but continues into the Aftercare Program.

Capstone offer three months of weekly aftercare consultation calls, post-graduation. This is done by the primary therapist with the graduate and their family. The calls are to help with the transition from treatment to the next stage of recovery. Each graduate leaves with a “game plan” and a sobriety contract. These dovetail with the family treatment plan, which was developed during family week, to aid in the rebuilding trust process.

Capstone also offers a “family relapse prevention tune up” three to six months after treatment. This is a two day experience to take inventory. All get to look at where they are in the process, what is working, and what adjustments need to be made to the plan. We like to think that all of this is about direction, not destination. This time allows each to check their direction, check their progress and then mark the next few steps of their “two year finish strong game plan”.

The next stage of aftercare is our “Capstone family reunion”, held once per year over a weekend. This is an intensive workshop, reconnecting weekend for the graduates and their parents. The first one after graduation is free. It also allows families to be renewed, refocused and reminded of how far they have come, the struggles they have learned from, share in the ongoing recovery process. Families give the gift of their faith, hope and experience. The connections that are continued remind all that through this shared experience, they are truly not alone.

What are Capstone’s Aftercare and Alumni Services?

During the time that a client and his family are going through the program at Capstone we tell both the sons and the parents that this is a long battle. We use the metaphor that graduation from Capstone represents arrival on first base. The battle to get to second base, third base, and home plate usually happens in about two years. Home plate represents the complete shifts in direction by both the sons and the parents from the old direction towards the Wasteland of Ruin to the new direction towards the Promise Land of Dreams. The primary goal is that the son has the inner man developed to the point he can take ownership of his direction and stay the course. While some sons make this paradigm shift in less than two years and others in more than two years the point is that this is a long and demanding battle and it can’t be done without God or without a band-of-brothers group. This strategy is explained in Ecclesiastes chapter 6 in the section where it talks about "Two are better than one", and "a cord of three strands cannot be easily broken."

Often the family “cord” has begun to unravel, prior to treatment. One of our goals is to set up the family to rebuild. In that rebuilding process, trust is paramount. For most of our graduates, they have destroyed all trust. There is a process of bringing the family back to a spot of “one accord”.

Capstone offer three months of weekly aftercare consultation calls, post-graduation. This is done by the primary therapist with the graduate and their family. The calls are to help with the transition from treatment to the next stage of recovery. Each graduate leaves with a “game plan” and a sobriety contract. These dovetail with the family treatment plan, which was developed during family week. These are to aid in the rebuilding trust process. We sometimes compare this to when the parent was helping their young son learn to ride a bike. At first, the parents may have fixed a strong set of training wheels to the bike and had them adjusted so their son only had a little wiggle room. This allowed him to ride and build confidence. That describes the early part of this process. Then those little wheels were moved up. The son then learned to balance and not be in danger of a crash. As their skills increase, the training wheels were removed. At that stage, the parent often ran behind their son, holding the seat. In the end, the parent reaches that exciting and scary moment, when they have to let go! This game plan/ contract/ aftercare package provides the process leading to autonomy. Parents and their son get to experience freedom.

Capstone also offer a “family relapse prevention tune up” three to six months after of treatment. This is a two day experience to take inventory. All get to look at where they are in the process, what is working, and what adjustments need to be made to the plan. We like to think that all of this is about direction, not destination. This time allows each to check their direction, check their progress and then mark the next few steps of their “two year finish strong game plan”.

The next stage of aftercare is our “Capstone family reunion”, held once per year over a weekend. This is a workship intensive and reconnecting weekend for the graduates and their parents. The first one after graduation is free. It also allows families to be renewed, refocused and reminded of how far they have come, the struggles they have learned from, share in the ongoing recovery process. Families give the gift of their faith, hope and experience. The connections that are continued remind all that through this shared experience, they are truly not alone.

During the 2 year post graduation period, the Finishing Phase, one of the best resources for camaraderie, support, and a band-of-brothers is found in Capstone graduate families. That is the purpose of the Alumni Relations Page. We want to keep in contact with you and provide you with helpful resources that will assist you in staying the course in the Capstone Game Plan. Another part of the Alumni Page is to orchestrate you being in contact with other graduate families.

The Alumni Relations Page will have several aspects and will add others in the future. We hope that the Alumni Page will be something that you visit often and that it helps all of you in your individual battles.

What does Christ-centered mean?

Every aspect of Capstone reflects Jesus Christ, but He is never forced on anyone. Capstone is not affiliated with a specific church, but instead, just simple Christianity. The focus is spiritual growth toward a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, not religiosity. We accept clients where they are in their beliefs, from atheist to devout Christian, and work to cultivate spiritual growth through truths that will stand on their own without faith, including honesty, purity, humility, self-control and more.

Our Christ-Centered focus brings the Professional Excellence factors together into a very powerful synergy. Every person is made in the image of God and therefore is made to love and to be loved at a Core-to-Core level of intimacy with themselves, God, family, and friends. Each young man has been given special gifts and purposes that can be developed and used for good. It is in the crucibles of struggle that God gives opportunities to grow and to develop the strengths needed to live life well. Every Capstone staff member genuinely strives to join clients and their families in this journey. That is why Capstone is a special place!

What is Adventure Therapy?

Adventure Therapy at Capstone happens in two venues; first utilizing our state of the art Ropes Course on campus, one day per week, clients are involved in activities that produce real-life internal challenges that, if not in Capstone, would most likely lead to relapse and/or misbehavior. The low ropes elements and group initiatives are used to create group dynamics that allow the group to develop a different response that is positive. The high ropes elements are used to focus more the in individual client's personal struggles and provide him with the opportunity to change his internal response to a triggering situation.

Second, Friday off-campus adventure days are under the umbrellas of Displacement Therapy. The old bad behaviors can’t just go away and be replaced by nothing or they will come back quickly. By finding new fun and fulfilling activities to be involved in clients displace the old with the new. Off-campus adventure day activities include fishing, canoeing and kayaking, rock climbing, caving, and hiking.

What is Canine Therapy?

Canine Therapy is a magical and unique part of Capstone’s program. Each client receives a registered Labrador retriever puppy when he first gets to Capstone. He feeds the puppy, cleans the kennel twice per day, and spends one hour per day in Canine Therapy. The primary benefit is the relationship between client and puppy with additional benefits of learning responsibility, self-efficacy from the success with the puppy, and a self-competency from the results of obedience training. Upon graduation the client takes his new canine friend home with him to enjoy for ten years or more.

What is Capstone’s Core Model approach?

The Core Model is an Integrated Systems Model that incorporates the best of Marriage and Family Therapy, Interpersonal Neurobiology, and Adventure Therapy with issue-driven specialty training in trauma and multiple addictions. It is an issue-driven model and not a model-driven model, if you will, so we can customize our approach to each unique family. All of this is built on the foundation of Christian Intimacy Theory; every person has been created by God and in the image of God, to love and be loved at a core-to-core level of intimacy. Addiction is an intimacy disorder according to Patrick Carnes and other research. People who have deep, quality, rich relationships, in other words, core-to-core intimacy, don’t develop addictions or aren’t relapsing in their addictions. Therefore, Capstone’s therapy approach targets any area that is preventing a person from developing a core-to-core level of intimacy with self, God, family, and friends.

Using the Core Model, we initially focus on the discovery of the core underpinning issues, not just the symptoms, but also what lies beneath. From this discovered information, we develop and implement the therapy plan. The thoroughness of the Core Model is essential for the most effective and long-lasting results.

Capstone works with clients who have addictions, as well as those who meet the criteria for co-occurring disorders. However, we do not identify our clients as “addicts” or “disorders” but instead, as young men who have hurts and struggles that have resulted in the condition of having developed an addiction or meeting the criteria for a disorder. Capstone goes to the core of what is causing these struggles and treats the whole person in the contexts of his past, present, and future.

Sobriety is a primary goal and works in a synergy with other primary goals: healing his hurts, filling his inner voids, rebuilding his core to core relationships, and developing his gifts and self-competency. Capstone’s goal in using the Core Model is that each young man turns his life’s direction toward living a life that is healthy, balanced, and fruitful, even in the presence of an addiction.

What is Professional Excellence?

There are two different parts to Capstone’s Professional Excellence. First is the programming itself. Because of Capstone’s commitment to intensive therapy, we have a 1-to-2 therapist-to-client ratio, which allows the therapists to give the time, energy, and personal relationship to every client and family.

The client receives 6 hours of individual therapy during Individual Intensive Weeks (I-Weeks) and 3 hours during Module Intensive weeks (M-Weeks). I-Week and M-Week alternate every other week. This system has a stronger focus on individual therapy in I-Weeks and group therapy in M-Weeks, but provides both individual and group therapy every week. The client participates in 10 +hours of Therapists-led group therapy in I-Weeks and 20 hours in M-Weeks.

The parents receive a minimum of one phone contact session per week. During Family Week the families will receive over 35-40 hours of family therapy. The total number of family hours during the treatment process is over 60.

Each day the client will spend 1.5 to 2 hours with their puppies. At least an hour of that time is spent in Canine Therapy or “puppy time” in which the client trains, plays, and connects with their puppies. The clients have a time in the morning and in the late afternoon where they care for their puppies’ needs for food, water, health, and a clean kennel. Canine Therapy builds attachment neuropathways, self-discipline, empathy, and relationship, all significant to recovery.

Five days per week, clients workout on weights and cardio exercises for 1 hour. The cardio equipment includes 3 Curve treadmills by Woodway, 4 Precor recumbent bikes, 1 SciFit upper body ergometer, and 8 Elliptical trainers. The weight workout is a cardio circuit, mostly done on Hammer Strength equipment. This workout lasts for approximately one hour and is conducted on M-T-Th-F-Su. The research on the brain shows that 45 minutes of cardio, or aerobic exercise, per week is one of the most productive ways to heal the brain and stimulate neuronal repair and growth.

Two days per week are Adventure Days. One day on the ropes course focusing on therapeutic goals via experiential metaphor and one day off campus participating in Outdoor Adventure activities as a part of Displacement Therapy. The time on the ropes course is designed to help clients learn to problem solve, work together as a team, communicate, set and achieve goals, and learn to handle stress and discomfort in new more productive ways. Our goal for Displacement Therapy on Friday off-campus Adventure Days in teaching the clients to fish, rock climb, kayak or canoe, cave, hike, and train their dogs, etc. is to help them find new hobbies and interests that they can enjoy after treatment.

Saturday is called Work Day. Each client is given a chore or set of chores for which he is personally responsible. It could be building a fire pit, picnic table, or outdoor stairs, and other landscaping projects. The clients are given instruction on how to do their chores and ongoing supervision and coaching by the Saturday staff. If they accomplish their chores they earn a pizza, soda, and a movie in the evening. If you ever see Capstone’s facility in person you will see many evidences of Work Day.

Sunday is a day for more free time, family visitation (although most clients don’t have parents visit because they live too far away and are already making three trips to Capstone including Admission, Family Week, and Family Retreat/Graduation), spiritual groups, communion to those that choose to do so, and the workout.

The second part to Capstone’s Professional Excellence is the staff. All of Capstone’s psychotherapists have earned master’s degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy (or closely related field), and several have Ph.D. degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy. In the first three years of employment at Capstone, our psychotherapists become licensed as Marriage and Family Therapists and/or Licensed Professional Counselors (or in the process as LAC’s and/or LAMFT’s). Additionally, they earn the credentials of EMDR II (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), CSAT (Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist), CMAT (Certified Multiple Addiction Therapist – specialty in Chemical Addiction), and CTT (Certified Trauma Therapist). Our entire therapy staff is in the process of completing the Certified Trauma Therapist training.